Our tracing you is usually the end result of a great deal of genealogical research. If we contact you, it is because we believe that you are legally entitled to share in an estate, in most cases, an estate where a person you are related to has died without leaving a will. In the first instance, we will inform you of the nature of your entitlement, that is, how you are related to the deceased and, wherever possible, we will tell you the estimated value of the estate. In many cases, the people we trace have never heard of the person who has died, often because they are cousins several times removed from the deceased.
Next, should you agree to our terms, we will disclose full particulars of your relationship to the person who has died by letter, supplying details of your family history which you may find as rewarding as any financial gain. With your consent, we will then present all of the information required to establish your claim to the estate administrator.
We take the risk
It is the nature of our work that there are no guarantees. Whilst we would not invest time and money tracing beneficiaries if we were not confident of a successful outcome, it is sometimes the case that an estate may come to nothing: for example, if there are unforeseen debts or if a will is belatedly discovered. By allowing us to act on your behalf, you remove the risk of spending your own time and money in proving your claim, as these are the risks that we accept as part of our business.
We would also ask you to note that if your claim is unsuccessful and you receive nothing from an estate, you will owe us nothing. At no time will we ask for any fee from you directly and we guarantee that our fee is fully inclusive of all of our costs in proving your claim.
Thankfully, we are very happy to say that the vast majority of our cases do come to fruition. If your claim is successful, the administrators of the estate will deduct our fee from your share at the time the estate is distributed and we will not receive any money until you do.